Glenn Beck is a complete corporate hack. He’s politically perverted. Good job alienating 99% of all young tech-savvy people, reinforcing your image of being a drama and conspiracy-laden crocodile tear rehearsed act.

Still, this provides an important lesson to us. I swung by the house about an hour ago and checked under the bed for Marxists. Sure enough, I found one. Until that time I had assumed my cat was apolitical. Thank you, Glen(n) Beck.

Seriously Beck, you’re a freaking parody of yourself – is everything left of Mussolini considered Marxist to you? This video infuriates me on to no end. Can’t wait for the internet community to shred it into pieces.

I don’t understand. Even the Wikipedia article that Glynnis linked to describes McChesney as the former editor of the “socialist Monthly Review.” Is it now unfair and paranoid to call someone who edits a socialist publication a socialist? What do you have to do actually be a socialist?

What’s wrong with being a socialist? Is this not a free country? I don’t claim you are not permitted to be a fascists, now do I?

If you go to http://www.monthlyrevew.org, you’ll see that Monthly Review describes itself as “An Independent Socialist Magazine>’ That’s its tag line. Some of the articles listed on his home page include: “How to Visit a Socialist Coountry”; “Reflection of Fidel: Health Reform in the United States”; “Margaret Randall’s Years in Cuba”; “The U.S. Economy and China: Capitalism, Class, and Crisis”; as well as the book “The Political Economy of Media” by Robert McChesney.

McChesney, who Beck is complaining about here, used to be the Editor of this magazine. That makes Beck “a corporate heck,” “politically perverted,” “drama and conspiracy-laden crocodile tear rehearsed hack” who “considers everything left of Mussolini to be Marxist”??????

If McChesney isn’t a socialist, who the hell is???

http://www.monthlyreview.org/

If Beck’s face gets any fatter his I fear his head might explode.

homie, I do not believe you know what the meaning of fascist is, so stop using it. fascism = socialism

homie:

Oh, I see, Glenn Beck is fat. That’s a really convincing argument. Now I realize his ideas must be wrong.

Who’s arguing? Just making an observation. Yes his ideas are wrong. Did someone suggest there was a correlation?

germ,
“homie, I do not believe you know what the meaning of fascist is, so stop using it. fascism = socialism”

You clearly just confirmed that you don’t. Thanks.

Fascism: a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

Socialism: a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.

See the difference, dumbass?

LOL – Read the posts by Democrats on any given thread, and you have to wonder if PMS is confined only to women these days!

Let’s face it, to paraphrase one of their own, the only thing Progressives have today, is SMEAR itself!

SEE YOU IN NOVEMBER, children!
LOL!

@m,

Kinda funny that you say Beck alienates the young tech-savvy people when the only “tech-savvy” people who support Net Neutrality are far leftist bloggers. Maybe if you actually wrote internet software for a living like I do, you’d know that the internet always has been and always will be self-regulating and doesn’t need busybodies like you, Glynnis MacNicol, and the Progressive Caucus to tell them how they should run their own PRIVATE networks. And since the implementation of the Tier-1 network model — breaking away from the government-controlled single ARPANet backbone model — all the theorized unfair practices that progressives can come up with to justify Net Neutrality are completely impractically. If they found that a network was throttling specific traffic they’d reroute their traffic and cost the network millions in revenue. Those connections aren’t free and they’re hardly static.

BUT THE NAZIS WERE SOCIALIST!!1 “NATIONAL SOCIALISM”!!1 HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO REPEAT IT BEFORE EVERYONE BELIEVES US??!!1 I MEAN IT WORKED FOR “GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER OF HEALTHCARE”, “CUT AND RUN”, “SHOVE IT DOWN OUR THROATS”, ETC!!1

Karl:

The Nazis were socialist. Sorry, but it’s true.

“BUT THE NAZIS WERE SOCIALIST”
False and easily disprovable.

The primary basis for this claim is that Hitler was a National Socialist. The word “National” evokes the state, and the word “Socialist” openly identifies itself as such.

However, there is no academic controversy over the status of this term: it was a misnomer. Misnomers are quite common in the history of political labels. Examples include the German Democratic Republic (which was neither) and Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s “Liberal Democrat” party (which was also neither). The true question is not whether Hitler called his party “socialist,” but whether or not it actually was. Canada’s Porgressive Conserative Party were not “progressives” neither.

Moreover, the idea that workers controlled the means of production in Nazi Germany is a bitter joke.
It was actually a combination of aristocracy and capitalism.
Technically, private businessmen owned and controlled the means of production. The Nazi “Charter of Labor” gave employers complete power over their workers. It established the employer as the “leader of the enterprise,” and read: “The leader of the enterprise makes the decisions for the employees and laborers in all matters concerning the enterprise.”

Have you considered education? Start with kindergarten.

“The Nazis were socialist. Sorry, but it’s true.”

I’m sorry as well, for your abject ignorance and aversion to facts and knowledge.

Throughout its rise to power and rule, the Nazis were strongly opposed by left-wing and socialist parties, and Nazi rhetoric was virulently anti-Marxist, attacking both communists and social democrats. A central appeal of Nazism was its opposition to Marxism and other forms of socialism and its claim to be a bulwark against Bolshevism and this is why they recieved so much material and political support from industrialists and conservatives.

The Nazi ideology saw socialist collectivism as part of a Jewish conspiracy (Judeo-Bolshevism) meant to undermine the elitist principle.

Nazis proposed that only people who were considered “racially pure” or Aryan would benefit from their policies. This can be seen as contrary to the socialist ideal of a society for the benefit of all.

In his rise to power, Hitler reassured German industrialists that he would respect private property and fight labor unions. To the extent that permitting private property to exist is contrary to “socialism”, then Nazism was not “socialist”. On the other hand, some democratic countries (like Sweden) have adopted some (but not all) socialist ideas while retaining a degree of freedom to own private property and have labor unions.

Hitler received strong support from conservatives for the “Enabling Act.” This legislation was opposed by social democrats.

After coming to power, Hitler sent thousand of communists, social democrats and unionists to concentration camps and killed communist leaders in Germany. He outlawed labor unions and guaranteed corporate profits for Krupp & Co.

The profits of large corporations soared under the Nazis. With the exception of Jewish property which was seized and sold, capitalist enterprises were not expropriated or nationalised but remained in private hands.

The Nazis were anti-egalitarian believing in neither equality (either among Germans or between Germans and non-Germans), collectivism, nor the rights of the “masses”. According to Hitler biographer Ian Kershaw they had an elitist view of society and asserted that in competition with each other the superior individual would emerge on top. Despite the use of slogans such as “the common good comes before the private good” their vision of social relations, in practice, was in line with the ideas of Nietzche rather than Karl Marx.

During the party’s ascendency in the 1930s, so called “left wing” Nazis such as Gregor Strasser and Ernst Röhm were ruthlessly purged and even killed.

Hope that helps assuage your lack of understanding.

“Kinda funny that you say Beck alienates the young tech-savvy people when the only “tech-savvy” people who support Net Neutrality are far leftist bloggers.”

Yet another asshat who doesn’t know aht it’s talking about—

Conservative groups supporting net neutrality apparently not buying conspiracy theory that government could control content

Christian Coalition: Net neutrality important for nondiscrimination, part of Internet’s history of growth. The Christian Coalition states that support for net neutrality “is an issue extremely important to America’s grassroots organizations and to those Americans who want to ensure the cable and phone companies controlling access to the Internet will not discriminate. … Net Neutrality is the reason why the Internet has grown the way it has and become such an indespensible [sic] tool in our lives and our civic discourse.” Jim Backlin of the Christian Coalition has further written that net neutrality is about “the ability of diverse voices and alternative views to continue to be heard.”

It sure is fun “Arguing With Idiots” You guys are low-hanging fruit.

“Father of the internet” and pioneering scientists support net neutrality rules. In an October 15, 2009, letter to FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, Internet pioneers (left-wing blogger) Vinton G. Cerf, (left-wing blogger) Stephen D. Crocker, (left-wing blogger) David P. Reed, (left-wing blogger) Lauren Weinstein, and (left-wing blogger) Daniel Lynch wrote, “We believe that the vast numbers of innovative Internet applications over the last decade are a direct consequence of an open and freely accessible Internet.” The scientists also stated that the “network neutrality proposal’s key principles of ‘nondiscrimination’ and ‘transparency’ are necessary components of a pro-innovation public policy agenda for this nation. … [N]etwork neutrality proposals will help protect U.S. Internet users’ choices for and freedom to access all available Internet services, worldwide.” As FoxNews.com itself notes, Cerf is “often called ‘the father of the Internet.’ “

More “left-wing bloggers”

Parents Television Council, Gun Owners of America are charter members of Free Press’ Save the Internet campaign. Free Press is the coalition coordinator of Save the Internet, a group of people and organizations that “are working together to urge Congress to preserve Net Neutrality.” Charter members of the group include the Christian Coalition, Gun Owners of America, and the Parents Television Council, whose founder, Brent Bozell, frequently appears on Fox News.

why anybody listens to this Nazi loving Fascist is beyond me. he is clearly not interested in anything but politics- and the right wing radicals. i know he needs to build up ratings, but all he is doing is inciting riots.

“why anybody listens to this Nazi loving Fascist is beyond me.”

Doncha know? He “connects the dots”. LOL

“What’s wrong with being a socialist?”

So homie, would you prefer socialism as practiced by the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics? Since Hitler hated Stalin, Stalin must have been a ‘real’ socialist. Of course, Hitler and Stalin were both mass murderers, so they did have that in common. And Chairman Mao was the real deal, taking socialism to its purest form, communism. Of course, Mao killed millions, too, so as practiced by these guys, it’s hard to defend socialism as a better practice than fascism. Both are bad.

AnonymousFinch says:
April 6, 2010 at 2:03 pm

homie:

Oh, I see, Glenn Beck is fat. That’s a really convincing argument. Now I realize his ideas must be wrong.

—

Limbaugh must really be wrong. Really, really wrong. Really, really, really wrong.

And, Hannity’s not right.

Colby, if you have some spare time, maybe you could read this article:
http://blog.mises.org/5163/network-nationalization-net-neutrality-in-action/

“The irony is that if “net neutrality” as lobbied by many of the PAC’s, content providers, politicians and Slashdot/Digg users is legislated, then the FCC and other agencies will essentially be allowed to spy on all Internet traffic. In fact, the FCC – the same governmental organization charged with censoring media – would have to monitor every data bit in order to determine if any VoIP conversation had lower quality, if all email was routed the most efficiently, if any video had been tampered with by an ISP. Ad infinitum.The double-speak is painfully obvious. The EFF has sued AT&T and other telecoms for allowing the NSA to eavesdrop on all of our phone conversations, emails, instant messages and now even social networks (see Wired magazine’s coverage for more). Yet, to logistically monitor all of the data, the FCC would need to do precisely what privacy advocates have accused the NSA of doing. And oddly enough, the EFF also supports “net neutrality.”

This is from the wikipedia entry on Nazism:
_____
Early Nazi rhetoric included anti-capitalism, especially anti-finance capitalism.[16] In attacking the ills of Weimar democracy, Adolf Hitler spoke of a “pluto-democracy” Jewish conspiracy that favoured liberal democratic parties in order to maintain the integrity of capitalism[47] Throughout his political campaigning, Hitler emphasized the background role of Jewish financiers in the ills of Weimar democracy.[48] In opposing finance capitalism, the Nazis emphasized a supposed “Jewish conspiracy” of bankers who controlled international finance, and thus the countries of the world.[49] Furthermore, a leftist faction of the Nazis attacked the corporation as the leading instrument of finance capitalism’s oppression of the worker (later, the faction was purged from the party).
The Nazis claimed that capitalism damages nations due to international finance, the economic dominance of big business, and Jewish influence.[50] They declared support for a form of socialism that is to provide for the nation: economic security, social welfare programs for workers, a just wage, honour for workers’ importance to the nation, and protection from capitalist exploitation.[51] Nazism, however, rejected class conflict-based socialism and economic egalitarianism, favouring instead a stratified economy with classes based on merit and talent, retaining private property, and the creation of national solidarity that transends class distinction.[52]
In 1920, the Nazi Party published the National Socialist Program, an ideology that in 25 points demanded:
that the State shall make it its primary duty to provide a livelihood for its citizens . . . the abolition of all incomes unearned by work . . . the ruthless confiscation of all war profits … the nationalization of all businesses which have been formed into corporations … profit-sharing in large enterprises … extensive development of insurance for old-age … land reform suitable to our national requirements.[53]
_____

This is all accurate. The nazis party was not Marxist because they did not believe in centralized, international control. They wanted a German-based socialist state (hence the name “national” socialism). They clearly were vehemently anti-capitalist.

Funny how the whole premise of this argument is that the nazis were secretly anti-socialist, but didn’t understand their own beliefs and therefore unwittingly endorsed socialism with their name. The nazis were evil, but they weren’t stupid enough to pick the wrong name for themselves.

But all the Nazis argument is irrelevant. Why hasn’t anyone taken up the challenge of explaining to me why Glenn Beck was wrong/crazy/paranoid to call McChesney a socialist? That’s the whole premise of the article and the initial comments. I think Beck was right. The guy is a socialist. Please, somebody, prove me wrong.

Court: FCC has no power to regulate Net neutrality

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20001825-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Wasn’t the original name of the Nazi party the German Workers Party?

Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, so yes? And, the point? There is a street in Houston named West Mount Houston, and there’s no hill for 150 miles.

The Soviets were a Republic, its right there in its name.

Touché, Valkyrie.

Anyone with any form of knowledge about socialism (political science 101) knows that Nazism isn’t socialism. Not even close. Socialism is based upon the tenor and principles of marxism. Nazism is not even god damn close to any of that. There’s a reason why nazism is a part of fascism and that it is considered right wing. Beck’s minions attempt at revisionist history is pathetic and sad.

Tony Westover, you’re part of a minority in your age group and profession.

Let me share my way of comparing and contrasting various political systems such as Nazi v Marxist.

Whether you are being starved, tortured, beaten to death, experimented upon, slaughtered in the thousands by a Nazi in a Dauchau for being a Jew or in a Gulag by a Marxist for being a capitalist is absolutely no comfort to the victim.

The Maos, Pol Pots, Hitlers and Stalinists of this world are the same animal dressed in different clothes with different speeches and different tools.

So, m, the wacko glenn beck fans have taken over Wikipedia and inserted all sorts of crazy crap about the nazi party being socialist and rabid anti-capitalist (some of which I quoted above)? Why don’t you go over to wikipedia and correct it?

Hmmm . . . I re-checked the wikipedia entry for national socialism to which Glenn Beck book was used for the citation for the claim that: “They declared support for a form of socialism that is to provide for the nation: economic security, social welfare programs for workers, a just wage, honour for workers’ importance to the nation, and protection from capitalist exploitation.” Turns out, it’s not a Glenn Beck book at all. Instead, it’s some alleged “professor” from some RNC-front organization called “Michigan State University.” His name is Jospeh Bendersky. Doesn’t he sometimes substitute for Rush when Rush is on vacation? He probably takes money from Exxon-Mobil. And, most importantly, I’m absolutely 100% that he’s a racist.

Quick, m, go over to wikipedia and take out all of the citations to racist’s three-volume “history” of Nazi Germany and replace it with your own ipse dixit.

Grammie, well said. I would simply add that all of those ideologies have one thing in common: the state is more important than the individual.

Oh good. My Cable company will be back to pinching the bandwidth of services it doesn’t like soon.

So finch, to be clear, are you in favor of the repeal of medicare, our own socialist endeavor. And those local pubic libraries: aren’t those just a preamble to a Maoist takeover? Indeed, the other day I found a whole selection of socialist books there.

Obviously, any totalistic system where a dictator has taken power, whether they purport to be socialist, communist, capitalist, a Republic, a democracy or anything else, is not so much a condemnation of the system, none of which include provisions endorsing dictators, as bad people abusing whatever the system is.

“So homie, would you prefer socialism as practiced by the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics”

USSR didn’t practice socialism neither. Next

AnonymousFinch

It was no secret. Are you thick?

The name “National Socialist German Workers Party,” was a misnomer, much like the “Peoples Republic of China,” the “Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,” the “German Democratic Republic” and the “Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.”

Few would argue that any of the above countries were in fact democracies or republics, and it is to this above category that the Hitlerian self-image as a “National Socialist German Workers Party,” belongs.

Apparently some, like Finch, find it convenient, though.

In Germany, Hitler played the patriotism, nationalism and finally racism cards. He arose from the right, not the left. That is history 101. Hitler despised communism.

writer
“Since Hitler hated Stalin, Stalin must have been a ‘real’ socialist.”

And this passes for logic, does it? I hate margarine, therefore, I can’t believe it’s not butter. Do you not see how stupid you sound? Never mind.

Grammie
Thanks for your emotional diatribe, though it sheds little or no light on anything respecting facts.

AnonymousFinch

Wikipedia-
“Nazism (Nationalsozialismus, National Socialism) was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] It was a unique variety of fascism that involved biological racism and anti-Semitism.[9] Nazism presented itself as politically syncretic, incorporating policies, tactics and philosophies from right- and left-wing ideologies; in practice, Nazism was a far right form of politics.”

“National Socialism” is the name of a political party. Notice the capital “S”?
Now, if I may draw your attention to the final phrase: ***”in practice, Nazism was a far right form of politics.”***

Shall I draw a diagram on my blackboard? Connect the dots? I repeat, Hitler was a rightie, like you.

Personally, I wouldn’t have chosen Wikipedia as a source, but since you insisted it’s so kick-ass….

Val:

Let me clear. No, I don’t support the immediate repeal of Medicare. The government has created a set of expectations (namely, Social Security and Medicare). Millions of people have ordered their lives based upon those expectations. The government can’t break those promises to those people and destroy those expectations. (I would, however, support the Paul Ryan plan to address the federal deficit, which involves significant reforms of Medicare and Social Security.)

But the reality is that even if we try our best to fulfill those promises, we’re not going to be able to. Social Security and Medicare are both ponzi schemes. They are about to come crashing down (as all ponzi scheme eventually do). Specifically, if you apply Generally Accepted Accounting Principles to the federal budget (including reducing future unfunded liabilities to their present value) then the REAL federal deficit is LARGER THAN THE GDP OF THE ENTIRE WORLD. And that was BEFORE Obamacare was passed. Social Security and Medicare are living on borrowed time, and when the come crashing down the will prove to have been false promises.

And that’s the larger point. We should not be making new promises (Obamacare) when we are about to default on the promises we’ve already made.

And as for public libraries, if it’s good enough for Ben Franklin, it’s good enough for me. Again, don’t play the straw-man argument with me. Opposing Obamacare is not the same thing as opposing public libraries.

I have been waiting for Glenn Beck to tell a lie or say something that is wrong. I am still waiting.

homie:

The USSR didn’t practice socialism either? Has ANY country EVER practiced socialism in your view?

No. It has never been fully implemented in any country in history. Not that I advocate pure socialism any more than I would unregulated capitalism. You have already admitted that you accept degrees of socialism like Medicare. So do I. Please don;’t make excuses. I accept it, you accept it.

So, homie, if you accept any government program whatsoever, then you have no choice but to accept all government programs? If the government provides any service, then it has to provide all services? You can NEVER circumscribe the jurisdiction of government? (And, for the record, I think I made it clear that I think medicare was a bad idea at the outset because it was a ponzi scheme; saying that we can’t repeal something because it has created reliance expectations isn’t exactly endorsing it.)

As for the claim that there has never been a socialist country in the world, it explains why you deny that Obama is a socialist.

You apparently believe that socialism means utopia, and no country has ever been socialist because no country has ever achieved utopia. The problem is that totalitarian states are not a perversion of socialism; they are what happens when you take socialism to its logical conclusion. When a society decides that the rights of the individual are subservient to the rights of the collective, gulags and auschwitzes and killing fields are inevitable. It’s just a matter of time.

“I have been waiting for Glenn Beck to tell a lie or say something that is wrong. I am still waiting.”
Sorry to keep you waiting.
1. No President had never been sworn into office without a Bible. He checked. That’s two lies.
2. Glenn Beck lied when he said recently that $1.4 million of stimulus momey was used to repair a door at Dyess AFB. The doors repaired were aircraft hangar doors and the cost was not $1.4 million.
The cost was $246000 out of $1.4 million in repairs funding
3. Beck falsely claimed Robert Creamer “stole” $2 million from banks.
4. “I mean, we’ve got czars now,” Beck said during his July 22, 2009, program. “Czars like John Holdren, who has proposed forcing abortions and putting sterilants in the drinking water to control population.”
5. Loves his country (cries)-video emerges of Beck rubbing vaseline under his eyelids
6. Beck falsely claimed “only 3 percent” of stimulus plan would be “spent in the next 12 months”
7.Beck falsely claimed average UAW worker makes $154 per hour.
8. In June Beck lied when he said that the US was the ONLY country that had a natural birthright provision.
9. Beck falsely asserted that U.S. does not fingerprint foreign visitors or collect rapists’ DNA.
10. Beck reports fake murder story from ACORN video as fact.

Lots more where those came from. See, durn near everything he says is a lie. Sometimes he stirs in a drop of truth to make his lies seem more convincing. But there are plenty of morons around to lap that crap up.

finch,
My library example was not a straw man, they are socialism. So Ben was socialist? Or is it possible that selecting some ideas from capitalism, some from socialism or whatever is how you make a good cake. Ben was not a socialist, Nixon, who also endorsed a national healthcare plan was not a socialist, nor is Obama for healthcare reform. Throwing that he is a socialist tag around, as the Beck’s of this world do ad nauseum, is just ad hominen, pure and simple. I just saw Rudy on CNN doing the same thing.

homie says:
April 6, 2010 at 5:21 pm

Grammie
Thanks for your emotional diatribe, though it sheds little or no light on anything respecting facts.

Homie, you consider my comment an “emotional diatribe” that is irrelevant.

No doubt you are one of those people who must have the most obvious inescapable logical conclusion drawn out for you in excruciating detail and consider any mention, no matter how clinical, of inconvenient facts to be an unfair play on emotion.

A fair reading and very little reflection should make it clear to most people that I chose that short way to make the point that all the ideologies and murderous dictators I mentioned had certain beliefs and goals in common and that they all built elaborate ideologies and political apparati to achieve the same goal: the total subjugation of the individual and all his achievements to the power and glory of the state as they determined it to be.

I think it is indisputable that a loyal Party member who was swept up willy nilly in one of the interminable Stalinist purges for the purpose of pure terror was not comforted by knowing that he suffered and died for the greater good and glory of Stalin and whatever the party du jour was. I really don’t think Ernest Roehm went willingly to his death for the greater power of Himmler et al b/c they shared much of the same insane ideology.

That is why I am a political conservative as that is understood in this country at this time b/c I believe it is the best ideology for our times to hold the natural impulse of the state to control as much as possible against the natural right of man (still a novel concept) to control as much of their own lives as is compatible with good order.

Do a little reading of our Founding Fathers and their uncanny knowledge of human and political nature and all the steps they took to thwart those very natural but ultimately evil impulses.

grammie:

“Wasn’t the original name of the Nazi party the German Workers Party?”

What’s your point? Isn’t the current name of China the People’s Republic of China?

“A republic is a type of government where the citizens choose their leaders of their country and the people (or at least a part of its people) have an impact on its government.”

See how it works?

NORBIT
“Read the posts by Democrats on any given thread, and you have to wonder if PMS is confined only to women these days!”

Are there Democrats on this thread?

homie says:
April 6, 2010 at 5:57 pm

I simply asked a question.

It appears by your defensive attitude and answer that my simple question caused an itch that you felt compelled to scratch!

Val:

Please read my prior essay on the “s-word”:

http://www.anonymousfinch.com/2009/04/10/liberals-need-to-get-their-story-straight-about-the-s-word/

Will you concede that Bernie Sanders is a socialist? Or do you maintain, like Howard Dean, that Bernie Sanders is mistaken about what he is.

Grammie
“That is why I am a political conservative as that is understood in this country at this time b/c I believe it is the best ideology for our times…”

You are certainly entitled to your opinion. However, the evidence overwhelmingly suggests otherwise.
But keep that happy thought.

homie:

Now YOU are a liar. Please link to the video that shows Glenn Beck rubbing vaseline under his eyelids.

Beck and his vaseline: http://forum.ebaumnation.com/showthread.php?p=653594

Finch
“So, homie, if you accept any government program whatsoever, then you have no choice but to accept all government programs?”
Did I say that?

” If the government provides any service, then it has to provide all services?”
Did I say that?
“As for the claim that there has never been a socialist country in the world, it explains why you deny that Obama is a socialist.”
I will not only deny it but I’ll do so with a round of loud guffaws while involuntarily blowing coffee through my nose.

“You apparently believe that socialism means utopia, and no country has ever been socialist because no country has ever achieved utopia.”

Do I? What else do I “believe”. Frankly, belief is for suckers. I usually try to adhere to empirical evidence.
Every successful free country in the world, for example, has a balance of social programs in the context of a capitalist system.

Let’s compare Glenn Beck and Barack Obama on honesty according to Politifact, a source that gets cited around here all the time as the gospel truth.

According to Politifact, Beck’s record is as follows:

Half True: 2
Barely True: 4
False: 5
Pants on Fire: 2

Wow! That sounds bad. Beck must be liar, right? Well, here’s Obama’s record:

Half True: 53
Barely True: 33
False: 40
Pants on Fire: 3

http://www.politifact.com/personalities/barack-obama/

Now, in reviewing those numbers please keep in mind that Beck does 20 hours per week of television and radio, 15 hours of which is completely unscripted. Obama, on the other hand, rarely speaks without a teleprompter and spends most of his time reading from scripts written by his staff.

So, I ask, who is more honest?

Valkyrie:

That was for a PHOTO SHOOT where the photographer ASKED him to cry!!! He used vasoline because he CAN’T cry on command. That was NOT for his television show. To use that video to claim that Beck’s crying on television is fake is the most deceitful thing I’ve ever seen. That’s ridiculous and shameful!

Bernie Sanders is a self-described “democratic socialist” not “socialist”. Get your facts straight.
Glad you asked, though.

Bernie is one of the few politicians in Washington that is deserving of anyone’s trust.
That goes for more than 98% of all Democrats in office and 100 of all Republicans who are corporatists that have little or no interest in serving anyone but themselves.

Homie, I see, so democratic socialists aren’t socialist either?

It’s easy to say Obama isn’t a socialist when you can make up a whole new nomenclature under which democratic socialists aren’t socialists, national socialists aren’t socialists, and soviet socialists aren’t socialists.

Politifact Numbers for Obama (All of them):
True: 66
Mostly True: 49
Half True: 53
Barely True: 33
False: 40
Pants on Fire: 3

Does this matter? Not really, politicians lie. People in politics lie. People lie. Oh Occam’s Razor, you are so good to us. Anyways, again, doesn’t matter. Also considering Obama has so many more actual entries on that website (You know, because he’s the president), it’s kinda pointless to compare him to Glenn Beck who has 14 entries in total (And who is not a politician, and is just a ponce on tv, and just has one true rating, mind you).

This is an excellent example of how Glenn Beck conflates bullshit….

Wikipedia—

Most often a republic is a sovereign country, but there are also subnational entities that are referred to as republics, or which have governments that are described as “republican” in nature.
For instance, Article IV of the Constitution of the United States “guarantee[s] to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government.”

The Soviet Union was a single nation composed of distinct and nominally sovereign Soviet Socialist Republics.

Whoa!! Republic of the United States of America dot dot dot dot dot **Union of Soviet Socialist REPUBLIC**dot dot dot dot People’s REPUBLIC of China**

Hey, I’m just sayin’. But I’m just a rodeo clown.

“Homie, I see, so democratic socialists aren’t socialist either?”

aRE YOU SUGGESTING BERNIE sNADERS REJECTS CAPITALISM

Caps lock accident

Homie:

Yes! I am!

Vermont (Bernie Sanders):

The median household income from 2002-2004 was $45,692. This was 15th nationally.[57] The median wage in the state in 2008 was $15.31 hourly or $31,845 annually
In the quarter ending September 2008, the state had the lowest credit card delinquency rate in the country, 0.70%
While the number of houses sold in the state has dropped from 8,318 in 2004, to 8,120 (2005), 6,919 (2006) and 5,820 (2007), the average price has continued to rise to $202,500 in 2008 ($200,000 in 2007).[63]

In the quarter ending September 2008, the state had the fourth lowest mortgage payment delinquency rate in the country, 1.8%

Looks like the “socialist” is working out for Vermont. LOL

The original Nazi Party, which had a very wide streak of socialism in it as demonstrated by their name, which Hitler changed b/c of the association that he didn’t want means nothing.

Bernie Sanders, a self described Socialist, is NOT REALLY a socialist.

BHO is REALLY REALLY a very moderate, one could almost say close to center right, Dem.

Homie is prepared to go the mat defending those ideas while consistently declaring that Tea Partiers are violent mobs of racist Nazis trying to forment and illegal revolution.

I don’t think you’re a “rodeo Clown, Homie, but i certainly can’t dispute that you are a clown and no doubt a graduate of the Humpty Dumpty School of Logic.

“Now, in reviewing those numbers please keep in mind that Beck does 20 hours per week of television and radio, 15 hours of which is completely unscripted. Obama, on the other hand, rarely speaks without a teleprompter and spends most of his time reading from scripts written by his staff.”

At what point did I
a) claim that I was a supporter of Barack Obama?
b) claim that Barack Obama or any other politician is “honest”?

“Beck does 20 hours per week of television and radio, 15 hours of which is completely unscripted.”

Bullshit. Substantiate that. The gut is a phony. Remember—he put Vaseline in his eyes to create fake tears and blubbers “I love my country” (sniffle) while he hawks gold with that Watergate felon, Liddy.
You people are the biggest suckers going.
Google P.T. Barnum for chuckles.

Next time…

homie:

Now you’re just being ridiculous. Bernie Sanders is one vote in the Senate. You think your Senator determines the economy in your state? That’s crazy.

homie:

I’ll repeat this. The video produced of Beck rubbing vasoline in his eyes was for a photo shoot where the photographer asked him to cry. It was not for his television show. For you to imply that that video had anything whatsoever to do with his crying on his television show is a bold faced lie.

How do I know Beck does his radio show unscripted? He broadcasts the video of his radio show live everyday over the internet. He has six cameras in his studio to do it. You see everything and it’s quite obvious that it’s unscripted.

Query: How dumb do you have to be to believe that Fascism = Socialism? (you have 5 seconds)

Answer: Glenn Beck dumb…and that’s pretty dumb. (No, this was NOT a trick question)

If you think capitalism is a perfect system, finch, I am laughing out loud. Capitalism is not a golden calf that must be worshipped. It is man made, and flawed and often renders an inequitable result. Without regulation, capitalism would have rendered up the next Hitler long ago.

You do admit that regulation is important, don’t you? Otherwise, as I have pointed out several times, there would be no laws banning monopoly style corporate practices, no laws regulating work place conditions, child labor, pollution, etc. But here is the thing, capitalists only accepted those regulations kicking and screaming. Among other things, they said the banning of lead in gasoline was unnecessary and would destroy the economy. And they argued against every regulation that has cut into their bottom line with the same, it will destory the economy argument.

So what did the American corporations do? They moved their manufacturing to third world countries where there are no (or limited) pollution, work condition and child labor regulations, etc., thereby cutting the American worker out of the picture. Thus: 10% unemployment.

So finch, you did not like that Glenn Beck video? You claim it was shameful? Why? Honestly, I think it is shameful that he would agree to put on fake tears for a promotional shoot. Did they place a little by-line underneath saying: ‘The tears depicted in this shoot were not sincere”

Val:

That was a photo shoot for GQ. Here is the picture that came out of it:

http://www.prisonplanet.com/images/january2010/250110top.jpg

Are you seriously going to claim that that picture needs a disclaimer under it? Are you going to argue that Beck was trying to fool people into thinking he was crying? NO! He was obviously making fun of himself! You’re position is ridiculous and you know it, and if you’re at all intellectually honest you’ll admit you’re wrong. Beck wasn’t fooling anyone; he was making fun of himself. If you claim otherwise you’re just fooling yourself.

But let’s return to where this all started. Glynnis, in true Glynnis style, ran a snarky article complaining that Beck was paranoid and insane because he called Robert McChesney a socialist. She obviously did not do the minimal research necessary to learn that he is, in fact, a socialist. I’ve repeatedly challenged everyone here to argue that McChesney is not a socialist. No one will take me up on the challenge. Do you think Glynnis or Mediaite would run a correction? Of course not. They do this all the time (like last week when Drew ran a story complaining that O’Reilly referred to Obama as a Christian convert when he is, in fact, a Christian convert).

That’s typical of the Glenn Beck phenomenon. Beck says something that is absolutely, 100% true: McChesney is a socialist. Rather than proving Beck wrong, liberals like you and Glynnis simply ridicule him. Yes, that is shameful.

And, Val, as we’ve discussed before, I don’t believe in laissez-faire capitalism. But there is a huge gulf between antitrust laws and the punitive taxation and redistribution of wealth that you endorse.

So the National Socialists weren’t socialists, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics wasn’t socialist. So socialist is only a name and doesn’t really exist. Yet homie equates conservatives with Nazis. I do have to agree with one of your statements, homie. You are a clown.

Finch,
If all the money is in the hands of just a few people, and that is indeed what our system has wrought, then taxing those that have the money is the only solution. Otherwise, your point of view endorses a kind of slavery to corporations which is antithetical to your notions of liberty.

Before we chatted about corporate taxes and you said that the corporations pay the highest taxes in the world. And I pointed out that the corporations avoid taxes by sheltering, and pass throughs. Check this out:
———
ExxonMobil paid no federal income tax in 2009. (Updated)
By Ben Armbruster
ExxonMobil paid no federal income tax in 2009. (Updated)
Last week, Forbes magazine published what the top U.S. corporations paid in taxes last year. “Most egregious,” Forbes notes, is General Electric, which “generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion.” Big Oil giant Exxon Mobil, which last year reported a record $45.2 billion profit, paid the most taxes of any corporation, but none of it went to the IRS:

Exxon tries to limit the tax pain with the help of 20 wholly owned subsidiaries domiciled in the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands that (legally) shelter the cash flow from operations in the likes of Angola, Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi. No wonder that of $15 billion in income taxes last year, Exxon paid none of it to Uncle Sam, and has tens of billions in earnings permanently reinvested overseas.

Mother Jones’ Adam Weinstein notes that, despite benefiting from corporate welfare in the U.S., Exxon complains about paying high taxes, claiming that it threatens energy innovation research. Pat Garofalo at the Wonk Room notes that big corporations’ tax shelter practices similar to Exxon’s shift a $100 billion annual tax burden onto U.S. taxpayers. In fact, in 2008, the Government Accountability Office found that “two out of every three United States corporations paid no federal income taxes from 1998 through 2005.”
——–

I love that last line: From 1998 through 2005 two out of three corporations paid no federal income taxes.

poor ignorant homie, now you have no credibility. The video of Beck crying for a photo shoot. LOL. The rest of your quotes are gathered from loser websites. YOU don’t watch Beck so you have to rely on fake quotes. LOL. You have to do better than that.

Okay, homie, so you hate Glenn Beck. And you’re able to look up articles about the Nazis. But the main thing you’ve proven here is that you’re an arrogant prick.

writer, if that’s the case, then he proves that a few minutes of research completely shatters right-wing revisionist history. The main thing you’ve proven with your post here is that you’re an unaware prick.

And snip, you are a left wing, limp wristed prick.

Excellent points made writer, you sure put me in my place.

Hey, homie was calling anyone he disagreed with ‘dumbass’ and ‘fascist’. You didn’t complain about that, so I thought you’d be okay with it.

Uh Finch…news flash. Glenn Beck IS paranoid and insane, and it’s really Fox that deserves to be ridiculed for putting an obviously sick man in front of a camera.

Glenn should remain calm and controlled, like Keith Olbermann.

Valkyrie,

That tax report on ExxonMobil is DEVASTATING, and should be read aloud in every classroom in America tomorrow. Now,
let’s throw some frosting on that cake for AnonymousFinch, as he remains silent:

“A recent study found between 2002-2008 the US handed out 74 billion in subsidies to fossil fuel industries. “

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1210-hance_pnglng.html

This is the Free Market/Capitalist system these right wingers endorse here?

–Cobra

Yea, cobra, and check out this little blurb from a 2006 article:

Last year, Exxon made the biggest profit of any company ever, $36 billion, and its retiring chairman appears to be reaping the benefits.

Exxon is giving Lee Raymond one of the most generous retirement packages in history, nearly $400 million, including pension, stock options and other perks, such as a $1 million consulting deal, two years of home security, personal security, a car and driver, and use of a corporate jet for professional purposes.

—–

That is the corporate game.

Cobra:

When did I defend subsidies for fossil fuel industries? I believe crony capitalism is just as much of a distortion of the free market as redistribution of wealth. I didn’t “respond” because the whole tax thing was irrelevant. Valkyrie lost the argument and couldn’t defend the Glenn Beck vasoline claim, so he went off on an irrelevant tangent about the evils of greedy corporations. Let’s have Valkyrie admit that he was wrong before we change the subject.

Finch,

Valkyrie, in my honest opinion is one of the most well-read, thoughtful and common-sense filled poster on this blog. Reader her posts, which she (Viking handmaidens to Valhala, so I’ll assume it’s “she”) supports with facts and statistics, is a learning experience and grounds for an ADULT discussion on topics, something sorely lacking in the political debates on cable news, and here.

The problem is: If Valkyrie were to show these facts to the Tea Party folks who are so “outraged” about paying taxes, that the most profitable corporation in the history of mankind is not only needlessly taking some of their tax dollars, but doesn’t pay back on thin DIME in federal taxes, they wouldn’t believe it, because it didn’t come from Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity.

That’s the monster that’s been created in this country.

–Cobra

–Cobra

Cobra:

That would be outrages if it were true, but it’s not. Exxon pays about $30 billion per year in federal taxes:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/63131-exxon-s-2007-tax-bill-30-billion

In 2008, Exxon paid a total of $116 billion in taxes:

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2009/02/11/exxon-big-oil-profits-evil-only-until-you-weigh-their-tax-bills.html

Wait! Another progressive talking point foiled?

Naw, couldn’t be! They are the truth seekers!

>I re-checked the wikipedia entry for national socialism to which Glenn Beck book was used for the citation for the claim that:

In the first god damn paragraphs it says:

In 1920, the Nazi Party published their 25-point National Socialist Program, the key tenets being: anti-parliamentarism, pan-Germanism, racism, anti-Semitism, collectivism, social Darwinism, eugenics, anti-communism, totalitarianism, and opposition to economic and political liberalism.

Nazism promoted an economic “Third Way”; a managed economy that was neither capitalist nor communist.

finch,
That was a good article on Exxon, but that story, written by an industry spokesperson, certainly differs from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/01/ge-exxon-walmart-business-washington-corporate-taxes_2.html

Querie: Are taxes that are passed through to the consumer but collected and paid by Exxon really a feather in Exxon’s cap?

Val:

All taxes on corporations are ultimately passed on to the consumer. If you tax a corporation’s profits out of existence, then the investors withdraw their capital and the corporation goes under. Why invest your money in a corporation, and bear the risk that any such investment incurs, if you’re not going to make a profit? Instead, you can pull the money and invest it in a safer instrument (e.g., a government bond) and earn a better return with less risk.

All industries involve risks to investors. If the after-tax rate of return is not sufficient to warrant that risk, then capital flees the industry.

Glenn Beck is an idiot and so are his followers, plain and simple. You cant reason with ignorant racists so why try?

To the rest of the posters here…. Beck was on TV the other night and what an idiot he is! He tells us that because the Nazis and communists used the term social welfare, therefore, therefore, any movement that uses that term is like the communist Nazi movement and like them will eventually “shoot you in the head”. Becks words. Really! Even Churches who preach social welfare are out to destroy you!

Its like saying some people who say they believe in Jesus molested kids so therefore if someone tells you he believes in Jesus he is likely to be a child molester! Of course it makes no sense but its not designed too.
Its just an appeal to crybaby conservatives who are constantly feeling sorry for themselves and who cant deal with changes in society so they lash out in anger with asinine charges about internment camps. secret armies, death panels and more all orchestrated by an angry, black, foreign born man who wants America to fail. Beck makes a fortune by stoking their fears.

Conservatives are angry people , living in a cocoon of ignorance, who fear the changes in society and need someone to hate because they have nothing to offer. except platitudes and flag waving. We tried their economics and we see the result. We see the falsity of their war making. But they cant admit their failures and their fears and racism even to themselves, so they turn nasty. Beck provides his loyal “reality deniers” and lovers of hate the rationale they need to justify their hate and, as usual with haters, facts or fairness or even honesty mean nothing.

Again, Beck is the pied piper leading the rats into the river. Or, if you prefer, bait for wackos. I suppose that is a good thing. It is a way of drawing the wacko crowd out. Thus, those ticking time bombs out there who hate the government, who are racist, or violent, are being drawn out, then called out, and finally arrested. All those militias, gun toting end of the world nuts, the Timothy McVeigh worshippers, those who would justify killing doctors, shooting census workers, blowing up IRS buildings, or whatever, Beck has them out of their holes raising up their sick flags.

Ok, so let me get this straight:

Conservatives, Libertarians, and people who listen to Glenn Beck are inherently evil as evidenced by their belief in the right of people to defend themselves, their distrust of a powerful centralized government, their belief of a particular brand of Abrahamic religion, and are mentally deficient and against the greater good of national interests because they just care about their own circle’s selfish needs. For these reasons they should all be put in a prison.

I feel like I’ve seen this sentiment before so I’ll just ask one question: Would the mode of transportation to these prisons be trains by any chance?

Hammer,
No, I am not suggesting that everyone who watches Beck is a wacko. Just that the wackos are watching Beck and he is empowering them with his angry anti-government rhetoric. As for my reference to prison, that is what happens to people who blow up government buildings, threaten to kill politicians, amass weapons with the intent to kill policemen, etc. However, that does not happen to law abiding citizens. No one would ever suggest that watching Glenn Beck is an imprisonable offense. Indeed, liberals have a much better track record protecting civil liberties than the conservatives, to wit: the ACLU for example. But here is the reality, some people that watch Beck are getting the idea that since the government has been taken over by communists, as Beck suggests, then it is OK to take the “law” into their own hands. And that is a serious problem.

The ACLU is disturbingly selective with their defense of civil liberties, especially in reference to the Bill of Rights. They are awfully quick to loosely interpret the “establishment of religion” but seemed to have skimmed over what came next in our first amendment, namely “or prohibit the free exercise thereof”. The second amendment might as well not exist to them.

But to the point, when did Beck ever say that it is OK to take the “law” into your own hands? When has he ever encouraged violence, or even civil disobedience? When has he ever come CLOSE to the level of incendiary rhetoric propagated by leftist organizations such as MoveOn, Code Pink, A.N.S.W.E.R., The World Can’t Wait, and countless others during the Bush presidency?

finch,
The notion that all taxes are ultimately passed on to the consumer seems a little fishy to me. Is not the price determined by what the market will bare? If the oil companies were not regulated, and not taxed, do you suggest that the price would become extremely low? (Though, the cost of production would certainly require at least a minimum on that.) But why, according to basic capitalist principles, would not the oil companies sell their product for whatever the market will bare? If demand was high, which the demand for oil always is, because we are all addicted to it, why not sell gas for $10 per gallon? Industry competition?

You are very knowledgeable about all this, finch, explain it to me.

Hammertown,
I do not get the impression that you know too much about the ACLU. In fact you clearly have not researched what you wrote. The ACLU has fought for 2nd amendment rights repeatedly, and all other rights contained in the Bill of Rights. The reason O’Reilly and friends do not like the ACLU is because the ACLU has been fighting religious displays on government property, prayer in public schools, etc. Yes, the ACLU does take that separation of church and state very seriously. Unlike, for example, Reverend Moon, the Republican party’s 2 billion dollar sugar daddy, who seeks the abolishment of that separation. In fact you would be surprised at how many Christians in this country would like to see that separation banned.

Beck does not explicitly call people to violence, because if he did, he would be arrested since inciting violence against the government is a crime. However, when you say the president is a communist, when you hoist up the flag pole conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory that indicates that the government has been taken over by communists, as Beck does, many people get the wrong signal from that, because some people are right on the edge of engaging in violence and all they need is a colorable excuse to committ it. Beck gives them that by making it seem that the progressive movement is intent on taking away their freedom, which is a blatant lie. On the other hand, there are many people on the right who would love to take away our freedom, including the freedom to choose an abortion, the freedom to be gay, the freedom to smoke or to use drugs, etc.

AnonymousFinch writes:

“That would be outrages if it were true, but it’s not. Exxon pays about $30 billion per year in federal taxes:”

“Federal Taxes” for WHICH Nation? Show me where they pay Federal Taxes to the United States from fiscal year 2009. As far as your $116 Billion dollar quote, sales taxes make up a third of that, and the CONSUMER pays that. Exxon just passes it along. If you don’t believe me, read the sign at the pump.

–Cobra

Valkyrie,
On your manufactured outrage concerning the ACLU and the 2nd Amendment, baloney:

http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice_prisoners-rights_drug-law-reform_immigrants-rights/second-amendment

http://protoscholar.com/2008/07/03/the-bill-of-rights-isn%E2%80%99t-a-buffet-aclu-hypocrisy/

Rights are not “collective”, they are inalienable from the individual. That’s a core principle of the American Revolution.

On the issue of their intellectual gymnastics concerning the 1st Amendment:

http://www.stoptheaclu.com/2006/03/30/aclus-hypocritical-approach-to-church-and-state/

Seriously, on those issues they’re not worth the effort to defend. Hell, I’m atheist.

But, again, to focus on your insane conspiratorial mindset that Beck is somehow a crypto-I-don’t-know-what, his “smear” campaign and “blatant lies” have been most him quoting or even playing direct audio of people professing their personal beliefs and political leanings, before cutting away to him making a goofy face and throwing his hands up before he launches into some bizarre metaphor with food props, while all the while REPEATEDLY telling his audience that violence is counter-productive. What he’s doing is, again, not comparable to opinions trumpeted by the left during the Bush administration by the fringe groups I mentioned earlier, nevermind others in more prominent positions.

On the last few hotbutton issues you posted for…uh…whatever reason…well…ok…have no idea what any of that has to do with anything except to be a clarion call to partisan madness but on the last issue here’s a clip you may find interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04NXAFktROo

valkyrie101 says:
April 7, 2010 at 2:44 pm

No The ACLU takes their “seperation” to levels the founding fathers never imagined and would probably
oppose.

As for Glenn Beck, he has the right to say that, just like you have the right to say ‘you are wrong Mr. Beck and here is why.’ not ‘ Anyone that listens to him is an crazy racist who wants to kill minorities, enslave women, kick puppies and overthrow the government’.

and for the record the left wants to take away the right to smoke not the right.